On Monday August 8th, 2011, the Pleasanton Police Department in California announced that they had arrested Steven J. Carlson, 43, for the murder of 14 year old Tina Faelz. Tina was murdered 27 years ago. Carlson was a former classmate of Tina Faelz at Foothill High and is a registered sex offender with a criminal history involving drugs and battery. Tina Faelz was stabbed to death while she was walking home from school in the afternoon of April 5th, 1984.

Carlson was arrested on August 7th in Santa Cruz by Pleasanton Police after they were tipped off by the FBI whose DNA technicians were able to extract DNA from the evidence collected at the crime scene of Tin Faelz' murder. During a brief hearing at the San Leandro Juvenile Justice Center, Commissioner Mark Kliszewski set a September 21 court date.